Afraid of Fire
by CeliaBlair24
Summary: AU- Constantly put down and demeand throughout his rather short life, Zuko finally snaps when his weakness and failure earn him a scar from the hands of his own father. Weak willed and struggling to come to terms with his new reality, Zuko spins for himself a mask that would paint him as the perfect child his father had always wanted him to be, unfortunately, Uncle does not agree.


_'- and suffering will be your teacher_ '

Maybe the world really was cruel. Trying and failing, trying harder and failing all the more. No matter what he did, Zuko just couldn't seem to find for himself the right footing. A stumble here, a small trip there, and if he was lucky, the worst he'd get for it was a glare. As it was, he had never been one with the best of luck- the spirits were out for his blood, he swears. Uncle gazed down on him, kind eyes watering as Zuko himself stifled a long held sob.

Repeatedly, he muttered to himself a litany of every possible verbal reprimand. For his stupidity, brashness, dishonor, idiocy- everything wrong about him, really. Uncle didn't look so pleased about it, but as it was, he had not the heart to scold him. There was a comet like scorch blistering a fourth of his face. Red, angry lines burning through soft skin and petrifying every bit of beauty that may have once been. Uncle gazed at him, a lone tear tracing his age- roughened cheeks as he reached forward to apply the burn salve.

"It takes the pain away"

He heard him say, guards forming a tight circle around him; holding the young prince by his hands and feet. He didn't know why, he really didn't, but flashes of a bleary memory from yesterday reminded him clearly. He was barely conscious then, yet the pain was so intense, it was inescapable, even by rest. Uncle, hands shaking, had tried to calm him then, he remembered. He'd then set his own sheets on fire trying to keep the pain away the moment the salve made contact with his still fresh burn.

'A miracle he didn't injure himself more'

He tried to scream, he did, he tried to reprimand them- _**his**_ crew like father had taught him to yet- yet all he could produce was a whimper. Low, weak and laughable, he could almost make out the amusement in supposed to be concerned voices. Uncle was up again in an instant, putting out the growing flames and taking him in his arms to try and soothe the pain. It hurt, the inexcusable tears hurt the burn, and he tried to keep it at bay, he did, he tried yet… Uncle held him for the longest time, like mother used to do. Rubbing his back and arms, telling he would be okay. Whispering soft nothings to reassure him, pretending that Zuko didn't know perfectly well that none were of them true.

It hurt, it did and he couldn't deny it. He tried to, but each and every time a flash caught his eye and he was brought back to the day it happened. It had been an entire week since, yet the wound was as fresh as it had been mere moments after the Agni Kai. He pictured the supposed cruelty as his father's own difficult but existing love and care for him. It healed off the pain, at least. It let him believe that what little doubt he held was wrong, that he was wrong, that the pain was deserved, that the hurt could've been worse and his father- his father only meant for the best.

He braved on a face of indifference. Good eye shut, holding onto burning, hurtful tears as the grip on his arms and legs tightened. Uncle, voice low and gravelly, shrouded in its own sense of agony, whispered that he was sorry. The coldness hit him first, a momentary respite from the terrible burning, then all at once, everything amplified. He didn't recognize any of the screams filling the room, only through the low ache in his throat did he realize that it was his own.

The process lasted a few minutes, Uncle as gentle as he could possibly be. The pain by some point dulled into what he could only describe as numbness. He couldn't really feel much, and faintly he could feel the arms holding him ease as his trashing slowly came to a halt. Tears filled his good eye, cascading down in slow streams as Uncle carefully released him.

"It's alright, nephew. It's alright"

False reassurance meant nothing by then, nothing at all. Not when the earth slowly drifted away, not when he'd finally fallen into the kind arms of oblivion.

" _I promise you, Zuko, everything will be okay. I will make sure of it."_

* * *

 **Nope, not a one shot.**

 **So I've been reading a wide variety A:tLA fanfics recently and I've come to the realization that, hey, I wanna write my own fanfic too- a long term one! So here I am, and here is the prologue for said attempt. Stick around long enough and maybe I'll get around to writing a good chunck of what I have planned. Til then however;**

 **Ciao,**

 **-Yorky**


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